Where do you and your buddies fall in these four categories?

Youth have been classified into four major segments. The grandstanders, the media-savvy, the money-savvy and the ‘gambler’. GRAPHIC | NATION

What you need to know:

  • The grandstanders are the showy type of youth who love the good things in life. They ascribe to the maxim ‘You Live Only Once’ (YOLO).
  • The next in line is the media-savvy segment of the youth. These are distant cousins of the grandstanders, but are more inclined towards technology.
  • The money-savvy youth is the next youth segment. This rare breed of young people are the ‘entrepreneurs’. They are constantly looking for profitable ways to invest their money.
  • “The gambler” is the fourth youth segment. They participate in every other competition and is always trying out new bank products. They are every marketer’s dream come true.

Did you know that there are various youth segments? Yes, you are a young person, and just like your peers, you love your music, you are married to your phone, you love socialising on Facebook, Instagram and enjoy the wild nights out.

Just like your friends, you have dreams, goals and challenges, but you are not as similar to the next young person as you might be tempted to think. You are unique, you belong to a class of your own, a special segment, and a recent study on young people is proof of this.

You have been classified into four major segments. The grandstanders, the media-savvy, the money-savvy and the ‘gambler’.

The study, ‘Holla’ was conducted by Consumer Insight, and polled the youth of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. The study sampled 1,300 young people from the region. So, where do you fall? 

The assumption has always been that young people have the same interests, and generally tend to gravitate towards similar things, apparently, this is not the case...

Grandstanders30% 

Let us begin with the grandstanders. The grandstanders are the showy type of youth who love the good things in life. They ascribe to the maxim ‘You Live Only Once’ (YOLO). They would rather spend all their money on the finer things in life than save a fraction of their salary with their employer’s Sacco.

They are status-conscious and image-concerned. They want to look good in front of their friends. They are out to impress their peers, you know, show them who is boss, who calls the shots.

They are the type that take loans to bankroll a certain lifestyle and when it comes to buying stuff, they take cues from their friends. This means that they are most likely to buy items recommended by their friends and are largely influenced by what their friends are buying.

They are also masters at impulse buying - there is a social explanation for this. Philip Graves, a consumer behaviour expert and author of consumer.ology, believes that young people are constantly seeking a sense of their own identity away from their parents. Most times, they are looking to affiliate themselves to what others (their peers) think of them. At that stage in their lives, the opinion that matters most is that of their friends.

Studies have shown that the part of the brain that is responsible for impulse control does not develop fully until the early twenties. The grandstanders make up about 30 per cent of young people in East Africa.

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Media-Savvy 25% 

The next in line is the media-savvy segment of the youth. These are distant cousins of the grandstanders, but are more inclined towards technology and media for knowledge and direction, rather than their peers. They will readily tell you the latest gadgets in the market, including their launch dates.

They know the best smart watches to buy and will compare the latest Samsung phone to the latest i-phone with ease. They also have their finger on the pulse when it comes to the programmes showing on television, especially local programmes.

This group also knows all the advertisements on television and will critique them in their sleep. They are up to date with the latest season of their favourite series - Game of Thrones, anyone?

Hang around them long enough and you will know the websites from which to download free movies and series because these young people breath, drink and eat the internet – they spend most of their time online, scrolling through websites, Facebooking, Tweeting and posting photos on Instagram.

Oh, and did I mention that they are married to their phones? Take away their phones and you might as well have killed them. Does this sound like you?

Media-savvy youth make up at least 25 per cent of young people in the region.

 

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Money-Savvy 23% 

The money-savvy youth is the next youth segment. This rare breed of young people are the ‘entrepreneurs’. They are constantly looking for profitable ways to invest their money. It doesn’t matter if it is their modest pocket money or a chunk of their salary, the money-savvy youth are always thinking ‘investment’.

They are good money managers, and are therefore rarely broke but do not realise it is not because they earn more, but because they know how to make their money stretch.

If they see something they like, they do not just run to the ATM so that they can do some impulse buying, they save up for it and then do their homework on where to get the best deal. They are very knowledgeable on money matters, and spend with tomorrow in mind. As you can imagine, they read up on personal finance and are determined to save more than they spend.

You may laugh at their mulika mwizi and brand them backward or call them misers, but a flashy phone that costs an arm and a leg is not a priority. If anything, they are probably saving up for a better phone.

If you sit with this group of young people, they will tell you that money is the best measure of success. If you have a friend who fits this bill, then you are looking at a future millionaire because these are the habits of the wealthy.

The money-savvy make up for 23 per cent of young people in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.

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The Gambler 22% 

“The gambler” is the fourth youth segment. Do you have that friend that thinks phones from China are as good as any, and participates in every other competition and is always trying out new bank products? This describes the gambler type, every marketer’s dream come true.

They are always ready to try new stuff in the market and enter any competition because who knows, lady luck might just smile down at them. As you can tell, this group is not ‘loyal’, due to their readiness to sample the latest that the market has to offer.

This segment makes up approximately 22 per cent of youth in the region.